A review by lindentea
The Davenports by Krystal Marquis

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

So here's the thing: Every time I read YA I remember that I've fully aged out of the age group (not helped by me reading 2 YA books at the same time rn, counting this one), and since I rate based on my own enjoyment, it makes it look like the books were bad... which literally isn't true, because this was great and I'd very happily put it in the hands of any kid ages like 12-17, especially if they were interested in history & racial justice. 

HOWEVER a lot of the structuring bothered me: focusing on FOUR different romances in, like, a normal length book made it so I didn't feel like I spent enough time with any of the couples, making them underdeveloped. ESPECIALLY the love interests --- the girls all had good character development and learned a lot throughout (some more than others......) but the guys? Kind of boring gonna be so real.  Including JOHN aka a DAVENPORT but I kept forgetting he was around until I got to a new Amy-Rose chapter. And why would you
end the book WITHOUT a single Happily Ever After (though I think an implied Happy For Now), and sequel-bait so heavily??
Again there's a reason why romance series are not normally structured this way. Obviously for some plots (Jacob Lawrence) to work you kinda need the stories to be running parallel, but like, I think you could keep similar stakes if you structured it w/ one romance a book.
Like Book 1 you have Olivia & Washington and her arc is just like exactly the same but she breaks her engagement out of love for Washington rather than bc of Helen & Jacob's relationship, though you still have Helen & Jacob interacting some to get readers hype for their sequel. Book 2 Helen & Jacob ofc, you have the tension of "but you just got un-engaged to my sister" and then his being broke is like an early 3rd act conflict. Next Book 3 you probably do Amy-Rose and John after like having them exchange flirty banter throughout Books 1 & 2, and hell you can even have Ruby be there in kind of a rival role. Book 4 You follow Olivia getting over her heartbreak with Barton. Boom. AND when you sequence it out the storylines are less likely to blur together.


Also not one of these characters is queer? Lol. I know its literally 1910 but come on like statistically..........